Courtesy Modi, boating on Yamuna to be a reality soon

To make Delhi a world class city, the Narendra Modi led government is working very hard to revive the ‘dead’ Yamuna. The Centre is exploring the possibility of making the river navigable and checking the feasibility to start boat rides on the famous river. 

Union road transport, highways and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari called a meeting of Delhi administrative officials last week over the issue and sought their views. 

‘He discussed to make Yamuna navigable and has asked us to come up with suggestions and proposals to make it possible in next few months,’ said a senior IAS officer of Delhi administration.

During the meeting, top officials from local administration’s environment department, Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and irrigation and flood department were present shared their views. The minister also requested all to work as a team and come up with a proposal very soon. ‘We have already apprised him of the current status of the river. We are studying the feasibility of the project,’ said another officer.

The officials have started working to make the proposals and very soon they will make a presentation before the minister.  

The Delhi administration has already sent a team to Gujarat to replicate the successful model of the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project for cleaning up Yamuna. The team went to Gujarat after Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 28 May was asked to work on cleaning up Yamuna on the lines of Sabarmati. 

The Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project is an initiative by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation to develop the riverfront in the heart of Ahmedabad.

The former chief minister Sheila Dikshit had planned to revive and make the river clean on the lines of Thames River. London Mayor Boris Johnson offered help to clean up and revive the Yamuna during a meeting with Delhi’s chief minister Sheila Dikshit in 2012 but the project never kicked off. She had said that Thames model could bring Delhi’s Yamuna back to life.

She said that she would take technological help from London to clean up the Yamuna, however, a staggering Rs 6,500 crore has been spent on the cleaning of the river so far, but in vain. The policy and plans always appeared on papers.  

The Central Pollution Control Bureau stated that 3,000 million litres of sewage water is released into the Yamuna every day in the national capital.